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Testament of Levi

Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs

About this book
Chapter 13

1 And now, my children, I command you: Fear the Lord your God with all your heart, and walk in simplicity according to all His law. 2 And you also, teach your children letters, so that they may have understanding all their lives, reading continually the law of God.⁠ 3 For everyone who knows the law of the Lord will be honored,⁠ and will not be a stranger wherever he goes. 4 Yes, he will gain many friends—more even than his parents—and many will desire to serve him and to hear the law from his mouth. 5 Therefore, my children, do righteousness upon the earth, so that you may have it as a treasure in heaven.⁠ 6 And sow good things in your souls, so that you may find them in your life. 7 But if you sow evil things, you will reap every trouble and affliction. 8 Acquire wisdom in the fear of God with diligence; for though there be captivity, and cities and lands are destroyed, and gold and silver and every possession perish, nothing can take away the wisdom of the wise, except the blindness of ungodliness and the callousness that comes from sin. 9 For if one keeps oneself from these evils, then even among his enemies wisdom will be his glory, and in a foreign land it will be his homeland, and in the midst of foes it will prove a friend. 10 Whoever teaches noble things and does them will be enthroned with kings, as Joseph my brother was.

Texts in conversation

Compare Jubilees 45:16 and Testament of Levi 13:2

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions · Pseudepigrapha, Testaments

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Summary

In Jubilees, Jacob gives Levi the family’s books to preserve, emphasizing learning through the written word. The Testament of Levi continues this tradition, having Levi command his own sons to teach their children to read and study.

Passages

Jubilees 45:16

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
14 And Israel blessed his sons before he died and told them everything that would happen to them in the land of Egypt; and he made known to them what would come upon them in the last days, and blessed them and gave to Joseph two portions in the land. 15 And he died and joined his ancestors, and he was buried in the double cave in the land of Canaan, near Abraham his father in the grave which he dug for himself in the double cave in the land of Hebron. 16 And he gave all his books and the books of his ancestors to Levi his son so that he might preserve them and renew them for his children to this day.
170–125 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jubilees

Testament of Levi 13:2

Pseudepigrapha, Testaments · Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs
1 And now, my children, I command you: Fear the Lord your God with all your heart, and walk in simplicity according to all His law. 2 And you also, teach your children letters, so that they may have understanding all their lives, reading continually the law of God. 3 For everyone who knows the law of the Lord will be honored, and will not be a stranger wherever he goes. 4 Yes, he will gain many friends—more even than his parents—and many will desire to serve him and to hear the law from his mouth.
100 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Testament of Levi

References

... On the other hand, like Jubilees, the Testament of Levi also emphasizes the importance of the written transmission of the ancestral halakhah. Later in his instruction to Levi, Isaac explains laws of draining blood from slaughtered animals by referring to Abraham: 'For thus my father Abraham commanded me, for thus he found in the writing of the book of Noah concerning blood.' As we have seen above, Jubilees recognizes two ways of transmission of ancestral laws. One is the oral deathbed instruction of a patriarch to his children. The other takes place by means of ancestral books passed down from generation to generation within the family. Indeed, in his instruction about details of the sacrificial cult in Jubilees 21, Abraham also refers to ancestral books of Enoch and Noah as the source of his knowledge. Isaac does the same in the Testament of Levi. Abraham's knowledge comes from what he has read in the books of his forefathers. It is only logical, then, that in his own farewell testimony, Levi instructs his children to 'teach reading, and writing, and instruction, and wisdom to your children.' ...
Alexei M. Sivertsev, Households, Sects, and the Origins of Rabbinic Judaism, JSJSup 102 (Leiden: Brill, 2005), 83–84.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Jubilees 45:16 and Testament of Levi 13:2

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